Forum: Writing Mary Sue: the Mother of Challenges

Discussing: Eldarion

Eldarion

Oh dear me, I have given in to the flying Nuzgul (out there, somewhere, somene is standing atop of a tower and crying "Go my flying Nuzgul, go!" It's you, Dwim, isn't it? ^_^) and have committed myself to write a (shock! gasp!) romance. A Mary Sue romance, of all things. Although, to be perfectly honest, the OFC in question has very little in common with me - does this still make her suitable for the challenge?

Anyway, I chose Eldarion because, frankly, he's Mary Sue magnet: he's the future King of the Reunited Kingdom and he doesn't have to go off and fight the Forces of Darkness (tm), which means he's wholly free to be chased by the Undying Sue. Besides, I did not wish to disrupt canon. So sue me.

Have fun! I agree--Eldarion is going to be one of the more logical candidates for an OFC romance. A very nice catch, heh heh. ~ Dwim

When your education is in the field of science, you cannot escape Occam's Razor. Even in fanfiction. Hey, does that mean I'm going to use Eldarion in scientific experiments? Heh heh heh indeed. Sooner or later, it all comes down to the leering... ^_-

Schnoogles,

-----AM

Re: Eldarion

Namely, I have been wondering if my OFC, Finduilas, qualifies as a Mary Sue - in fact, I'd like to know if there's any further requirement to this challenge than equating all OFCs with Sues (something which I generally take great issue with, but would certainly make my life easier for this particular challenge).

On one hand, Finduilas could be considered Sue material: she's related to canon characters, she's rich, she's good looking, she's intelligent and, of course, Eldarion has a "thing" for her.

However, there are also a great many deal of things that she is not. She does not possess a great variety of curious and unsual powers. She is not likeable, not in the literary sense (after all, amoral villains can be "likeable") but rather in the sense of having the sort of randomly unpleasant personality that makes her unpopular. She does not "save the day" or indeed do anything much apart from leading a privileged and almost bohemian existence and lacing her dilettante ambition with some (somewhat irritating) teenage angst.

Furthermore, as I've stated before, the story is shaping up to be less a romance and more of a look at blase youth in the 4th Age (a look which I hope is both unflatteringly realistic and understanding). Alhough the plot is of course of what can be termed a "romantic" nature, this doesn't really strike me as being all that "romantic." Of course, there's the fact that I find "romances" to be insufferable - there's so many interesting themes that can be explored, why waste time with treacly nonsense? Stories that deal with the powerful emotion of love as part of the gamut of human experience, however, are quite another kettle of fish. But I don't tend to call them "romances," and although I am classifying this story as a "romance" in accordance to the requirements of the challenge, I don't really think of it as a "romance," although of course your own definitions may vary.

So, what I want to know, does all of this still make it acceptable for the challenge? I am going to write it anyway, as I have become quite fond of it (possibly because of the fact that I opened it with this image of Arien draped over Arda like a golden canopy, my mind conjuring up images of Goldfinger's exploits and other Technicolor extravaganzas ^_^), but do you think it's acceptable for the challenge or not?

Schnoogles,

-----AM

Re: Eldarion

* 1. The Sue must be a main character. She must be female, and she can be either an OC or a very underdeveloped character from canon.
* 2. The story must involve a romance with a Tolkien character. Events relating to this must constitute the plot or a subplot.
* 3. All ratings accepted.

So, for the purposes of the challenge, all sounds well. I've got one in the challenge in which the OFC doesn't fit my notion of a Mary Sue - she's not me, she's not perfect, she's not beautiful, she's not magical, she's just an OFC involved with a Tolkien character. And that's not even the main point of the plot. I say go for it!

Re: Eldarion

The point of the challenge is to play off of the Mary Sue romance concept--to do it *right*, as it were. "Right" may mean different things for different couples and scenarios--some romances don't work [cough!], others do for a time, and some may last (especially if you're filling in a marginal female character from the appendices or what not)--it depends on how you work the material. So treat "Mary Sue" (if that title is offensive to you) as an ironic title, intended to make folks think about that automatic identification of OFC and Mary Sue.

Actually, if you have time, you can always check the two theory threads in this forum for people's opinions on what makes a Sue, what worth a Sue has, how Sues and OFCs relate, etc.

So long as your story isn't a parody, which it doesn't seem to be, and follows the three simple rules listed by Shadow, it's eligible.

Re: Eldarion

Thanks for the clarifications! Yes, the story does fit with the challenge requirements ( :: sigh of relief :: ). It is indeed not a parody, incidentally. Unless you want to be really pedantic and consider it a parody of sorts of F Scott Fitzgerald, but I don't think that's what was meant by the "no parodies" clause. And no, before you ask, it won't finish with someone believing in the green light and so forth ^_^